A better—and more balanced—tomorrow

By Amy Bolon

I started my undergraduate career as a mechanical engineer with no clear vision of what I wanted to work on. However, I quickly realized that my favorite courses were those in materials science—from an introduction to materials class all the way to materials in design during my senior year. I loved learning about the behavior of materials, how to characterize them, and how they could be used in design. My favorite lab was a materials and manufacturing lab, where students performed various mechanical tests to understand deformation and fracture behavior. I later taught the lab for two semesters and enjoyed every minute—even if I did jump every time a sample broke.